C&V Century Bikes

Yesterday I accomplished a long standing goal to ride over 100 miles in a single ride on my 1982 Nishiki Cresta. I rode 101.6 miles mostly on the Arizona Canal bike trail in Phoenix, Arizona. I didn't break any speed records. I averaged 14.66 mph for a total ride time of 6 hours 55 minutes, and just under 8 hours with rest stops added in.

I'd been working up to this distance the last few months and got up to 80 miles two weeks ago. My new goal is to ride 200 km (125 miles) in under 13 hours and participate in the brevet series here in Arizona.

I really like the ride quality of the Cresta. Once it gets spun up, it just seems to have its own internal inertia. That's probably because of its weight and long wheel base. And its a very smooth ride. The Phil Wood hubs and SKF bottom bracket probably help in that regard also.

Do any of you ride long distances on a C&V bike? Lets see 'em!

My 1982 Nishiki Cresta.

One of my favorite sections of the path where it crosses Northern Ave. Giant eucalyptus trees provide a nice break spot.

You can really rack up the miles on a path like this.

Out towards 99th Ave. the path goes through a beautiful stretch of natural desert

I have plans for making this my longer distance bike once the weather warms a bit. Initial testing leads me to believe it will be well suited for this. I intend to add only fenders on this one, and a lighting system of some sort. I'll be doing more cleaning, finessing, and fine tuning as spring approaches, and replacing the Winter Wellgos with it's original Maillard Spiedels.

I used to do all my long distance riding on a 70's Peugeot, I still have but I don't miss riding it at all. Ride the 70's Peugeot, get off, ride the 2000 Colnago and it's quite plain why the Peugeot gathers dust.

I rode my first SR series on a '80s racing bike. There was nothing wrong with it, but the rust started to bother me. I do like to run fenders, there was no way to put full fenders on that thing. Also, modern brakes would have saved me on one snowy descent.

You can ride a century on just about anything. One 200k on Halloween, one rider showed up wearing a dress and riding his wife's 3 speed commuter. Pretty sure he finished before I did. The one problem I had with my racing bike was that after a couple hundred miles the dt shifters were just way too much work. It's bad enough to be sore and have saddle problems, but then to have sore fingers from shifting is a bit too much. I saw a guy on PBP with an old PX10. He was dropping out with about 100k left. Couldn't imagine doing that, but I always wondered if the bike had something to do with it.

They don't make frames like they used to (or at least not affordable frames in my price range like they used to) and that is sad. Making a high-quality lugged steel frame from high-end tubing is a niche industry today and to have a custom builder replicate a nice vintage frame with the same ride will cost thousands.

But today's components are light years ahead of vintage stuff in usability, longevity, lightness, & dependability. They don't make components like they used to in the old days, and that is a GOOD thing. Even a used Sora groupset is miles ahead of anything made in the 90's, much less 80's and before.

The best of both worlds is a nice vintage frameset with a modern wheelset and components built up on it.